1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an information processing apparatus capable of connecting to a terminal through the Internet and including a plurality of Web applications and an information processing method in that terminal type information, language information, and profile information of the terminal can be succeeded while a page transition is conducted by a user of the terminal among the plurality of Web applications, and in that information suitable for the terminal can be provided while maintaining user-friendliness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the Internet has been widely used by not only a client PC (Personal Computer) but also mobile phone and PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) terminal, and information has been provided in various languages and to various level users. A method for providing information has bee diversified.
In order to provide information corresponding to a terminal such as the client PC, the mobile phone, or PDA terminal, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-175515 discloses that display contents corresponding to the terminal type of the terminal is generated for HTML data created beforehand. Or, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-63108 discloses that a gateway server, that intermediates between a Web server for providing information and a terminal for requesting information, deletes unnecessary data and adjusts color attributes of an image with respect to information provided from the Web server in response to the request of the terminal, based on the terminal type of the terminal.
Moreover, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-7095 discloses a data processing apparatus including a Web server function capable of providing information concerning a image forming process. In the data processing apparatus, a user of the terminal can obtain information concerning a device for conducting a image forming process and provided with the data processing apparatus, through the Internet.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-306070 discloses a data succeeding method in that by using information input by the user of the terminal is stored in a predetermined storage area, the information can be succeeded while the user conducts the page transition.
However, the above-mentioned conventional methods have the following problems.
In the Web server having the Web server function capable of providing information concerning the image forming process, in a case in that a state of the image forming process or a device such as a plotter controlled by the Web server for conducting the image forming process is provided, since the information should be provided timely, HTML data cannot be prepared beforehand. Accordingly, the method disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-175515 cannot be applied in this case. In a case of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-63108, a cost of installing the gateway server and maintenance of the gateway server are required.
In the data processing apparatus disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-7095, it is impossible to provide information suitable for the size of a display screen of the terminal such as the client PC, the mobile phone, and the PDA terminal.
Moreover, in the data succeeding method disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-306070, a page for allowing the user to input information concerning the user of the terminal is required and the user is required to explicitly input the information into the page. In addition, it is required to manage the information, which is to be succeeded, for each user. Accordingly, it is impossible to automatically provide information suitable for the size of the display screen.